DOLE to hold webinars on clients’ needs

CEBU, Philippines — As the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) attempts to keep up with the “new normal,” it plans to conduct webinars to meet the needs and requirements of its stakeholders.

DOLE-7 Regional Director Salome Siaton said it is high time to make use of and exhaust the presence of technology especially at these very extraordinary times.

 “We cannot go on conducting face-to-face seminars and orientations due to the big risks at stake. At the same, we cannot also leave our stakeholders clueless of the latest issuances and pronouncements issued by the Department. They should know and be updated about them,” Siaton said in a statement.

Once the course contents for the webinars are polished, she said, the conduct of which will start as soon as possible.

She said it was agreed during a recent online meeting with Cebu Sixth District Provincial Board Member Glenn Soco and with the representatives of the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Mandaue City Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Hotel, Resort and Restaurant Association of Cebu.

“One of the agreements reached was for DOLE to conduct webinars on its latest pronouncements and issuances. As of now, I have delegated to one of my division chiefs to develop course contents for these webinars,” said Siaton.

Moreover, Siaton said DOLE will start focusing on the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and DOLE Interim Guidelines on Workplace Prevention and Control of COVID-19, as well as with several labor advisories issued recently by DOLE Secretary Silvestre Bello III.

Siaton also reminded companies that the DOLE and DTI will be monitoring their compliance to safety and health standards as provided for under the Interim Guidelines.

However, companies need not panic, she added, since the DOLE for its part will ensure to make such monitoring as “developmental as possible.”

Siaton said that these webinars will now be their bridge toward the companies informing them of what to do and how things should be done before any monitoring or checking is conducted.  KQD (FREEMAN)